Mother, Son Died In Crash With Truck On Route 309 * Both Worked In The Allentown Area. They Were Going Home To Luzerne County.

March 24, 1999|by ELLIOT GROSSMAN, The Morning Call

James Marsyada Jr. spent his days driving tractor-trailers, maneuvering around tight spaces with ease.

"He never had any accidents," said Craig Huth, the Allentown plant manager for Hospital Central Services Corp. "He never had any citations."

But Monday night, Marsyada left work and drove his sport utility vehicle into an oncoming tractor-trailer on Route 309 in northern Lehigh County, according to state police at Fogelsville. His mother, Bernice, who car-pooled with him, was a passenger.

Mother and son were thrown from the vehicle in a fiery crash. Both died.

State police do not know why Marsyada crossed the centerline in Lynn Township, and might never know because of a lack of independent witnesses, said state police Cpl. Brian Fidati.

Marsyada, 30, had been driving a truck, delivering fresh linens, for a year and half for Hospital Central Services. His mother, 60, worked at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township as a "support partner," caring for patients on a nephrology unit.

They were headed home to Sybertsville in Luzerne County, near Hazleton, when the crash occurred. It happened a mile south of Gun Club Road as the three-lane highway starts its steep climb over Blue Mountain.

Just after 11 p.m., Marsyada was on Route 309 headed northwhen he passed a truck. Then he crossed into the southbound lane, hitting a tractor-trailer, according to police. The sport utility vehicle was forced back into the northbound lanes, into the truck it had passed, then hit a northbound car.

Both Marsyadas were thrown from their sport utility vehicle, which became engulfed in flames.

New Tripoli Fire Chief Dennis Snyder, who helped extinguish the fire, said it was one of the worst highway crashes he had ever seen. The sport utility vehicle and the southbound tractor-trailer were heavily damaged.

"Those vehicles looked like they had a bomb in them and were blown apart from the impact," Snyder said.

The Marsyadas died of massive injuries, according to Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim.

"It was pretty gruesome," Snyder said.

John Rodriguez, 34, of New York, who was driving the southbound tractor-trailer, suffered only minor injuries. It was amazing that Rodriguez didn't suffer serious injuries, according to Snyder.

After hitting the sport utility vehicle, the tractor-trailer crossed all the lanes, went off the road, over rocks and down a wooded embankment. Rodriguez lost steering control at some point due to a broken front axle, Snyder said.

Police said the northbound truck, a tractor-trailer, was driven by Richard D. Cease, 33, of Flemington, N.J., and the car was driven by Matthew Oliver, 29, of Coaldale. Neither was hurt.

In the hours after the crash, police believed the two people who were killed were a married couple. A MedEvac helicopter was at the scene but did not transport anyone to Lehigh Valley Hospital.

The accident caused all three lanes to be closed for about 10 hours, until about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Traffic in both directions was detoured onto nearby roads, causing delays.

The process of removing the damaged vehicles was time-consuming. In addition, about 150 gallons of diesel fuel, which spilled onto the road, had to be cleaned up.

Fidati said there are many reasons Marsyada might have crossed the double yellow line, but no one knows what happened. He might have been distracted or have fallen asleep or an animal might have run into his path.

"Sometimes, things just happen that are unexplained," Fidati said.

It was the third crash in the last week in a quarter-mile stretch, but Snyder couldn't explain why there have been so many accidents.

Bernice Marsyada had worked at LVH in Salisbury Township since December. Earlier, she worked in housekeeping at the hospital's Allentown location. Before that, she worked at Hospital Central Services in its laundry.

Maryanne Fye, a patient care coordinator at the Salisbury site, and other nurses were just getting to know her. Bernice Marsyada proudly showed her colleagues photographs of her grandchildren, including triplets.

And she boasted about her trip with her family just a few weeks ago to Disney World in Florida.

"That was like her dream vacation she got to go on," Fye said.

Marsyada was meticulous about her work.

"If she saw a patient who had a need, she'd jump in and help right out," Fye said.

James Marsyada was a big man -- 6 feet tall and about 300 pounds -- with blond hair and a pleasant disposition.

Huth, the plant manager at Hospital Central Services, checked Marsyada's driving record before hiring him and found no blemishes. Huth had driven with Marsyada and found him to be a conscientious driver.

So Huth found it surprising that Marsyada might have caused the crash.

"It just seems so uncharacteristic of him and his personality," Huth said.

He delivered clean linens to hospitals, including Grand View Hospital in West Rockhill Township and North Penn Hospital in Hatfield Township.

"He was a great guy," Huth said. "You never heard a bad word out of his mouth."

He loved to camp in his trailer with its air conditioner and satellite television dish.

But he also was dedicated to his job. He took a beeper with him on vacation and gave the phone number to his employer in case he was needed suddenly.

"He bent over backwards for the company and thought nothing of it," Huth said. "`No' was not in his vocabulary."

Helping at the accident site were New Tripoli fire police, Lynnport Fire Department, Northwestern Ambulance, Tamaqua Advanced Life Support, Penn Mahoning Emergency Medical Service, Cetronia Emergency Medical Service, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

State police are seeking witnesses and asking them to call 610-395-1438.